Department for Transport

Biofuels

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the amount of fuel made from used cooking oil and other waste products.

baroness sugg: Building on the success of Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) in supporting a market for fuels made from waste, the Government set out a fifteen-year strategy for renewable transport fuels last September in “The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order: Government Response to consultations on amendments” (Cm 9494), which is available in the Libraries of both Houses. The strategy includes increased targets for the supply of renewable fuels, and measures to promote advanced development fuels derived from waste. These legislative changes were made in March. Biodiesel made from Used Cooking Oil will remain eligible for double certificates, which can be used in meeting the increased targets.

Bus Services: Rural Areas

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the provisionof rural bus services in rural communities.

baroness sugg: The Government recognises the extra pressures placed on local authorities to provide services in more isolated areas. Where there is not enough demand for a bus route to be commercially viable in its own right, all local authorities have powers to subsidise bus services. Since January 2014, £40m Bus Service Operator Grant (BSOG) funding per year is paid directly to local authorities, rather than bus operators, in relation to the services that councils fund. This funding is ring-fenced to ensure that it is used to support bus services, but within that it will be for each local authority to decide how to use it. We are also encouraging local authorities to innovate such as through our Total Transport pilot projects which have explored ways to join up the commissioning of publicly funded transport services so that available funding goes further. The Bus Services Act 2017 also provides a number of tools to facilitate local authorities working together with operators and communities to provide improved bus services in rural areas.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Charity Commission: Public Appointments

lord foulkes of cumnock: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were interviewed for the recent appointment of Chair of the Charity Commission; who conducted the interviews; and whether a candidate was recommended by the interview panel to ministers for appointment.

lord ashton of hyde: Six candidates were shortlisted for interview for the Chair of the Charity Commission role. The Advisory Assessment Panel comprised: Sue Owen Panel Chair and DCMS Permanent SecretaryCharles MacKay Senior Independent Panel MemberJulia Unwin Independent Panel Member with Sector experienceAlan Downey Charity sector representative Paragraph 3.1 of the Cabinet Office Governance Code for Public Appointments stipulates that Advisory Assessment Panels must not rank candidates unless specifically requested by the appointing Minister. The Advisory Assessment Panel received no such request for this competition and candidates were therefore assessed as either ‘appointable’ or ‘unappointable.’ Following the satisfactory completion of the interview process, the Advisory Assessment Panel presented Ministers with a list of of three individuals and Ministers selected the candidate who they assessed as most suitable for the role. As a result, Baroness Stowell has been appointed as Chair of the Charity Commission.

Charity Commission: Pay

lord foulkes of cumnock: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual salary and expenses of the Chair of the Charity Commission.

lord ashton of hyde: The Chair of the Charity Commission is remunerated at £62,500 per annum (2.5 days per week). A pension is not offered for this appointment. The Chair is expected to undertake some travel in connection with the role, for which reasonable expenses are paid in line with the Charity Commission’s expenses policy.

Charity Commission: Public Appointments

lord foulkes of cumnock: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the Chair of the Charities Commission has suitable experience of the Third Sector.

lord ashton of hyde: The role of Charity Commission Chair were assessed by the Advisory Assessment Panel against the published selection criteria for the role as per Paragraph 5.3 of the Cabinet Office Governance Code for Public Appointments. The published essential criteria are as follows: to be an accessible and engaging ambassador for the organisation, and have the ability to influence high level stakeholders within government and Parliament, the media, the charity sector and the business world;the ability to make strategic decisions within a complex and shifting external landscape;a commitment to the charity sector’s effective, independent, proportionate, and impartial regulation;the ability to provide a high quality service and deliver value for money for the taxpayer;an understanding of and interest in the charity sector, including an awareness of the multifaceted challenges it faces resulting from changing social and economic circumstances;the skills to lead a Board and support the leadership of a high profile organisation by providing strategic guidance and effective challenge;the ability to support the organisation through a period of significant change and cultural development as demonstrated by experience in either the private or charity/not for profit sector;the ability to apply strategic insight and constructive challenge to the Executive team’s plans across wide-ranging strategy, delivery and organisational issues; andpersonal integrity and resilience, demonstrable independence and other attitudes consistent with the expectations of senior public office in a high profile role  The successful candidate met the criteria for the role as assessed by the Assessment Advisory Panel.

Ministry of Justice

Sobriety Orders

baroness finlay of llandaff: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to expand the reach of the Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement.

lord keen of elie: Currently, the Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) is only available in the areas where it is being piloted in London and Humberside, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire. The evaluations of these pilots will inform the decision around whether to introduce the AAMR to all courts in England and Wales as a sentencing option.

Ministry of Justice: Internet

lord harris of haringey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cloud services contracts that were previously delivered by British cloud services providers for theMinistry of Justiceare now delivered by multinational cloud service providers; what is the value of those contracts; and what are the names of the previous providers.

lord keen of elie: Only a small number of services were previously hosted with a British cloud service provider (UK Cloud, formerly SkyScape, £241,000, 1 year, 3 services) and have now been moved onto a wider multinational public cloud service provider (Amazon Web Services, £2.5million, 2 years, ~50 services).

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Corruption

lord mcinnes of kilwinning: To ask Her Majesty's Government how muchof the Department for International Development's (DfID) budget was spent on anti-corruption support for developing countries in (1) 2015–16, (2) 2016–17, (3) 2017–18; andwhat are those figures as a proportion of DfID's total budget for each of those years.

lord bates: The amount and proportion of Official Development Assistance spent by DFID on anti-corruption1 activities in calendar years 2015 and 2016 are given in the table below: Table – DFID Net ODA on anti-corruption activities1  20152016  £m % of total DFID ODA£m% of total DFID ODATotal DFID Net ODA on anti-corruption activities 654 6.7% 570 5.8%Of whichBilateral4444.5%3793.8%Multilateral2102.1%1911.9%Total DFID Net ODA9,772100.0%9,871100.0% Anti-corruption activities cover support to anti-corruption organisations and institutions, public finance management, public sector policy and management, tax and administrative support, mining policy and administrative management, and sub-national government.In line with the international definitions, ODA is collected on a calendar year basis. The table reflects the latest published data and figures for 2017 UK ODA spending will be published in autumn 2018.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Internet

lord harris of haringey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cloud services contracts that were previously delivered by British cloud services providers for theNorthern Ireland Office are now delivered by multinational cloud service providers; what is the value of those contracts; and what are the names of the previous providers.

lord duncan of springbank: None of the cloud services contracts held by the Northern Ireland Office have been transferred from British providers.